There are 600,000 physicians in America who care for the 48 million seniors on Medicare. Of the $716 billion that the Affordable Care Act cuts from the program over the next ten years, the largest chunk$415 billioncomes from slashing Medicares reimbursement rates to doctors, hospitals, and nursing homes. This significant reduction in fees is driving many doctors to stop accepting new Medicare patients, making it harder for seniors to gain access to needed care. Here are a few of their stories.

Paul Wertsch is a primary physician in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1977, he and his two partners invested $500,000 of their own money and opened their own practice, the Wildwood Family Clinic, on the east side of town. Wertschs clinic is popular with the seniors who go there, but over time, Medicares fee schedule has made it harder and harder on the practice.

Wertsch billed Medicare $217 to care for a Medicare patient with a sinus infection whose appointment ran late, because the patient required more time. Medicare reimbursed the clinic for $54.38. Later in the day, a younger patient with the same sinus infection, requiring half the time, was charged the same $217. But his private insurer reimbursed the clinic for twice the amount of Medicare: $108.04.

But, but, but Obama said we could keep our doctors if we liked them, right? So if doctors drop out of service for you, then it's not his fault, right? I knew this scam was coming. Also the BS about employers being blamed for dropping health care altogether. If it is exponentially more expensive to offer health care to your employees but much cheaper to just pay the fine, then that's not Obama’s fault either, is it? /s The ‘Affordable care Act’ was designed to herd us all into Socialized Medicine. That's the final situation if we don't get some intelligent people in charge who can tell us how we can still save the best medical care/best medical care system in the world.

Don't worry. When our medical system is completely Socialized, we will be paying, through our new taxes, for the doctors to go to Medical School. It's coming. Everyone’s Federal tax rate will be over 50%. It has to be to pay for all the ‘Affordable Care Act’ promises.

Actually, they’re refusing to accept new Medicare patients because of the reimbursement rates. POS like Obama and the other no tale Demonic Party a$$ clowns plan on “reducing costs” by screwing over the providers (and have been for some time), which of course will lead to shortages in the supply of providers. Behold... communism; it fails every time its tried.

Don't forget midwives. I suspect that babies delivered in most countries are now delivered by midwives. Why pay for a doctor when the bulk of baby deliveries go smoothly? And, if you get into trouble during the delivery, too bad.

Not only do the imported doctors bring translation problems, many are muslim and are frequently dismissive of their women patients. My daughter’s husband is in the Navy. Many of their doctors are muslims (go figure). She frequently tells me how the doctors don’t even let her finish her sentences before they cut her off. How can a doctor treat a patient when he doesn’t even allow that patient to explain their symptoms or the symptoms of their children?

The word I am hearing is that some doctors are fleeing to Alaska, thats correct, why?

Alaskan doctors charge nearly three times the going rates for most procedures, also Alaska has opted out of Obamacare.

No Obamacare for Alaska, the native hospitals are bigger and more funded than the white peoples fix-it clinics, there is a lot of military retirees here and not much of any typical ghetto except for a neighborhood in Anchorage and most of the Mat-Su Valley trash, but then I’m one of the Valley Trashers.

But in Alaska they have a Office of Childrens Services, which has the power to take away your wages, your property, your drivers license and to deny your application for a passport thus keeping you a prisoner.

19
posted on 08/20/2012 5:31:13 AM PDT
by Eye of Unk
(Vote for Sarah Palin, she is the cure to the disease and infection of socialism.)

What’s described in this article is just phase 1 (doctors refuse new patients on medicare) in the destruction of our healthcare system. Phase 2 will be the government stepping in and mandating that doctors see a certain percentage of medicare patients. Phase 3 will make it illegal to refuse care to any Obamacare insured patient, and doctors will leave practice all together and people that would have become doctors will seek careers somewhere else thus causing a crisis in access to healthcare. Everyone will be insured and there will be no doctors to see them.

Anyone who says cutting $700 Billion in payments to Medicare providers wont result in reduced care for Medicare patients is a liar, and anyone who believes it is an idiot.

NOTE TO THE ROMNEY CAMPAIGN:

One might ask: If cutting that $700 Billion in payments doesn't result in a reduction of care, then why were we spending that $700 Billion before?And then ask, how much more can we cut before a reduction in care is noticed? Why weren't these massive cuts done before now, with all of our economic and budget troubles?

30
posted on 08/20/2012 6:10:27 AM PDT
by Teacher317
('Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.)

Lot of doctors are not taking new Medicare patients...reimbursement sucks. And if you are retired Military over 65 you are on Tricare for Life, which sucks just as bad and is tied to Medicare and admined out of the same agency.

If you are a senior woman looking for a new GYN, you are going to have a lot of phone calls to find one who will take you, even in a large city full of them.

32
posted on 08/20/2012 6:17:07 AM PDT
by GailA
(IF U will not keep your promises to the Military, U won't keep them to the public)

Team Obama’s fools who have never run a business seem to think there’s a lot of money on the table eaily recouped by reducing fraud and waste. That, they believe, is what will make up the difference. They think they know how to run your shop better than you do, remember. They are like actors, walking around in lab coats with clipboards ...

We are seeing more pop up clinics at drug stores to treat high BP or diabetes and minor stuff like school physicals. Also lots of Minor Meds. I see problems with this as they are using your SS# as ID, and there becomes an issue of possible ID theft.

Our doctor shoves us off on his PA more often than he sees us. I don’t mind the PA as long as all you need are refills of meds that are good for only 6 months. And it always involves blood work ups.

35
posted on 08/20/2012 6:35:33 AM PDT
by GailA
(IF U will not keep your promises to the Military, U won't keep them to the public)

Why aren’t folks drilling into the 2700 pages of Obamacare that passed and expose what we will get if Zero gets reelected? All I have heard are nit pickings of VP contender Ryan’s budget which are still a plan, not a law like Obamacare which will become a reality. It seems like everyone is ignoring this new law and carrying on like status quo for the future of healthcare. There’s a lot here people that we should be more concerned about than anything Ryan has.A prominent hospital that I visited told me they were setting up the new computer system to get ready for the new law but they really didn’t understand or fully comprehend what they new law was going to mean for them or their future.

The Kings goal is to lower Americas health care system to sub-3rd world standards while doubling or tripling the cost for it.

I'm by no means a doctor, but I do work in a healthcare-related industry. Medicine, and medical research, is very much based on continuing practice, research, development, and publication of findings. Like many sciences, it is an iterative model.

It works the best, here in the United States, because we have an economy that loosely encourages this by means of a profit motive. (I say loosely because today's model is hampered by significant regulations and taxes.) That is, new medical procedures, devices, and drugs are funded, created and developed, because companies and investors see the prospect of reward down the road.

What happens when the iterative model breaks? What happens when a generation of would-be doctors chooses not to go into medical research, because their skills are needed in general practice? What happens when biotech companies choose not to start-up because medical reaearch doesn't support their efforts? What happens when--instead of novel new medicines that treat Alzheimer's, cancer, and cardiovascular disease--big pharma companies create "me-too" medicines because they're better understood and less risky to develop?

Obamacare has the possibility of destroying healthcare as we know it, setting back the industry for years, possibly decades. If the United States doesn't lead and develop new medical treatments and medicines, it's very likely to believe that NO ONE will.

37
posted on 08/20/2012 6:52:19 AM PDT
by Lou L
(Health "insurance" is NOT the same as health "care")

Team Obamas fools who have never run a business seem to think theres a lot of money on the table eaily recouped by reducing fraud and waste. That, they believe, is what will make up the difference. They think they know how to run your shop better than you do, remember. They are like actors, walking around in lab coats with clipboards ...

Along those lines:

Wal-Mart vs. The Morons

1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day.

2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!

3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.

10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of whic h 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had five years ago.

11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at Wal-Mart stores. (Earth’s population is approximately 6.5 Billion.)

12. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart.

You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart to fix the economy.

This should be read and understood by all Americans Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!!

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature

It is now official that the majority of you are corrupt morons:

a.. The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years
to get it right and it is broke.

b.. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it
right and it is broke.

c.. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right
and it is broke.

d.. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right;
$1 trillion of our money is con fiscated each year and transferred to “the
poor” and they only want more.

e.. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years
to get it right and they are broke.

f.. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right
and it is broke.

g.. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence
on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion
a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right
and it is an abysmal failure.

You have FAILED in every “government service” you have shoved down our
throats while overspending our tax dollars.

AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED
WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

Old people shouldn’t fear. The good ole government will just pass laws that to have a medical license, Drs. need to accept a certain percentage of medicare patients. Then the cost will just be passed on to the rest of us. It’s the American way.

i agree.. The head nurse at my main docs office at one point told me I can no longer see you, I can’t take Medi-Cal insurance... to which I told him, I’m not with Medi-Cal, I have PPO insurance through my employer...and the nurse said oops.. never mind..

the same will happen with Medicare patients.

but as someone said above, this is not important.. some Tea Party guy from Missouri made a gaffe and that is far more important news... nothing to see here.

This is true of every hospital. I think you miss my point. Everyone assumes the rich will have these concierge docs, but it won't help the rich if hospitals get shut down. People focus on docs when they are the smallest part of the equation of medical costs.

Rich people think their money will always help them. Money does not always answer all things. Example--even the google boys who have ambitions to become space tourists can never ride in the Space Shuttle which has been shut down.

>>Team Obamas fools who have never run a business seem to think theres a lot of money on the table easily recouped by reducing fraud and waste.<<

Your comment got me to thinking. Team Obama’s “fools” may have never run a business, but they damned sure have had a hand in distributing billions of taxpayer dollars to their friends, supporters, and bundlers.

In other words, the reason they always seem to think there’s a lot of money to be gained by reducing fraud and waste is because that’s where most of the money they deal with has gone. They’re just assuming the whole world works that way and that legitimate businesses also are rife with fraudulent spending.

Just like Britain, import more Muslim doctors from Pakistan,India and Africa.They work cheap and wont deliver any expensive treatment or tests for those white devil infidels.

In Britian’s NHS if you have a serious, debilitating joint ailment needing surgery you get a nice sympathetic acting "Asian" practitioner who puts on a good show of being very caring and compassionate.

They pat you on the hand, let you know how much they care for you and then they give you a prescription for aspirin. If you are young and lucky (or especially if you are well connected and if you are really well connected you go to the head of the line) you may get on the waiting list for a non state of the art surgery.

In the US, you go straight to outpatient surgery and get the problem fixed.

It it true that importing the foreign mercenary health care workers creates a system where the health care providers have no real sense of kinship or responsibility for the Native Brits which produces an indifferent or even resentful attitude on the part of the foreign workers that a big part of the problem in the NHS

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